There have been many years that it has been warm enough before May Long and i've planted things out but not this year. The days here have warmed up but lately the night temperatures are hovering around 0°.

What about all of you? Planted already, or planning to this weekend? Do any of you take chances like i do? I have a few containers planted and have just left them under wraps with everything else.

Have to laugh - someone asked me this question at work the other day (which is what made me think about starting this thread). She said she was leery to do any planting because there was going to be a frost on the first of June. I kind of looked at her blankly and she said, "Well, there's going to be a full moon." THe way things are going this year, she may be right!

My snaps, carnations, ornamental cabbage, statice, and some annual grass have been in the ground for about a week, some for longer. Night before last we had frost so everything got covered and survived just fine. All the other annuals - about 30 flats worth - are hardened off, and only going back in the greenhouse or on a cart in the garage for cold nights. I keep having to move them around, though, to try and keep them out of the worst of the wind which dries them out so fast. Sometimes it's tricky - I swear that around here if you had 2 flags on a flag pole, one would be blowing north and the other south at the same time.

It's a crazy weather spring so far.

Bite her tongue!

It's suppose to rain and be on the cool side here too this weekend, so I'll probaby transplant some more shrubs from the holding garden and putz around in the greenhouse. I have hanger hooks up in the greenhouse rafts so I'll do up some baskets and hang them up there till they're safe to go outside.

I don't plant any tenders in the ground till June 1st. That has been my tradition for years ;)

Sharon

Today the temp is a very pleasant 24C. Hard to comprehend the forecast.

Oh and I have peas, carrots, potatoes, and dahlias planted in the veggie garden so far.

This morning at 5 am.....I set out all these plants....then I noticed a bit of frost on the ground. I hope that it didn't hit any of my plants. Eeekkss!!!!

As for the weather...our last frost date is approx June 6..so anything can happen. Oh ya...and watch for hail storms....they can do a lot of damage too. Yesterday, the sky darkened....and a storm threatened....so I put everything back in the greenhouse early....but we only got a bit of rain.

I'll probably plant up some more planters as I have more time....

Sierra

I like to get stuff out early as well. My normal goal is to have everything planted out/moved/divided etc by the end of May, then enjoy the summer (aside from weeding/watering/deadheading). Then again, I just hate gardening in the heat so I go great guns in the cooler weather. I'm usually chomping at the bit in April to get started, too.

The weather people must be on crack! Now they're predicting temps to drop to 0 tomorrow afternoon and -7 overnight. That's more than just an hour or so of cold and with today's 30C temp, that transition is hard on plants.

Ah, but my dear departed dad to the rescue. Last year, prior to passing away, he put in his Vesey's order for seeds and also bought an 83" x 100' roll of Agribon 30 floating row cover - provides up to 6 degrees of frost protection (so they claim). Mom just brought it to my attention recently (she didn't know what it was) so tomorrow - unless the weather crackheads change their mind - I'll be busy cutting it into usable lengths and covering. I'll probably leave it on for a few days, too, since next weeks temps don't look great either.

One thing I’ll miss though, I love when it’s warm and sunny when planting and the sun is warming the back of your neck as you lean over. It’s such a good feeling. Oh well, one year I actually found I planted stuff quicker when the weather wasn’t so nice. You don’t spend as much time fussing about planting depths, what to plant where, etc.

My tomatoes were planted April 26th in the kozy koats and are now starting to bloom. They are maybe ten inches high. I was surprised when I saw the patio tomatoes at Cdn Tire , they were about the same size and pretty expensive. I am not sure how much the kozy koats helped, they likely helped a bit though.

Glen

I've heard of other areas getting a lot worse than us. How have you all fared?

Syreeta

Toots, I know you are colder than us but we get more snow over the winter than you. I think this past winter we got about 16' of snow.

Syreeta

Now that the sun's returned I think I'll have to give the plants only part sun today, just to get them used to the light. Though the plants were in the gazebo I felt sorry for them being cold and wet, but it was either that or a warm but dark basement.

I think I can start planting, though I'll probably do pots first as the ground is soggy. It sure seems bright out today after days and days of cloud and rain.

Glen

Shelley

In our case, and in hindsight, maybe it's a good thing that the weather has been so uncooperative. I guess I'm going to get a semi-raised bed out of the deal. lol

Shauna

Most of the veggie garden is in though, just waiting to get the beans and bedding plants in. Everything seems about normal this year as far as timing goes for this area.

Syreeta, lucky you , no s*** last week :^) I think you must have been the only place in Canada that didn't get hit! Even though we got it four times they were only skiffs and didn't do any damage. I see now that one rose and one spirea got touched, but it was likely the cold wind.

16 feet of snow! WOW! That's why everyone from up here goes down there to snowmobile! I think the airport in FSJ recorded a total accumulation of 8 ft. which is quite tremendous for here.

I've started planting more containers and have planted out a few WS plants that were climbing out of their containers. Last night, at my garden assistant's insistance :), we planted some impatiens in their usual area under the Nanking cherries. That area is getting rapidly overrun with self-seeded columbines. Mother Marcia may have to interfere with Mother Nature....

My garden assistant, btw, is my son's girlfriend's 9 year old daughter. She loves gardening, esp. decorating, and has ideas for several, ahem, eye-catching displays in my yard... :>

LOL! Looking forward to seeing pics later on Marcia!;^) At least my little guy has finally realized that onions should be planted in the veggie garden and not in every flower pot.:0)

Yesterday, they kept calling for rain all day, but it never did appear, which was great because I was able to get about 95% of my annuals planted out in either pots or in the ground. It did rain overnight and is really cool and windy this morning, but hopefully it'll warm up a bit later and I can get started on planting out all the perennials I've got sitting around in pots. That should take a couple of days, but what a relief it'll be to not have to worry about keeping them all watered.

However, the pieces of beaver wood she laid along the edge of another bed look pretty good. I might have to move them to mow on the weekend, but i'll put them back - and take a picture. :)